A new chapter was written in golf lore on Sunday thanks to J.J. Spaun, the largest betting underdog to win the U.S. Open since 2009.
Spaun was +12,500 to win the third of four major championships, meaning a $100 bet would’ve fetched $12,500 in winnings.
Key Takeaways
- Spaun had less than a 0.8% chance to win the event, per betting odds.
- Scottie Scheffler, the largest favorite since 2009, tied for seventh.
- Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut.
To say that Spaun’s victory came from left field would be an understatement. His U.S. Open odds translated to a 0.79% chance, or one in every 126 events – a truly once-in-a-lifetime win.
Spaun’s odds were the longest of any U.S. Open winner since Lucas Glover, who was +15,000 when the first round of the 2009 Open got underway, per Sports Odds History. Tiger Woods was +175 to win that event but finished tied for sixth at even par, four strokes behind Glover.
The parallels to this year’s event were striking. American Scottie Scheffler was the largest favorite to win the event since, fittingly, 2009, at +275 odds.
Scheffler finished tied for seventh at +4, while Spaun was the only man in attendance to shoot or break par at -1.
The weekend came to a close with a Hollywood-style ending. Spaun sank a 65-footer, the longest made putt of the weekend, to cement the first major championship win of his career.
J.J. SPAUN MAKES THE LONGEST PUTT ANYONE MADE ALL WEEK AT OAKMONT TO WIN THE 125TH U.S. OPEN 😱pic.twitter.com/Ww1hmhIhf3 https://t.co/Rd1qfPMr6Y
— Covers (@Covers) June 16, 2025
A story of personal success
The historic weekend was by far the best performance of Spaun’s career. He’d only competed in eight previous majors, three times missing the cut and never finishing better than tied for 23rd.
The new champion’s story is also one of perseverance. He lost 40 pounds from 2017-21 and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, coinciding with a fall to No. 584 in the world golf rankings. He was later diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after losing even more weight.
Spaun, who was ranked 25th in the world a week ago, is now up to a career-best eighth in the Official World Golf Rankings’ list.
Tough sledding for the top dogs
While the feel-good story coming out of the weekend dominated the headlines, it was a tough week for the heavyweights. Scheffler and Jon Rahm (+1,200) performed the best but could only finish tied for seventh.
Bryson DeChambeau (+750) became the first defending champion to miss the cut since Gary Woodland in 2020 and dropped to 13th in the world rankings in the aftermath.
Ludvig Aberg (+2,000), Joaquin Niemann (+2,500), Shane Lowry (+3,000), and Tommy Fleetwood (+3,000), among other top contenders, also missed the cut.
Rory McIlroy (+1,200) finished +7 despite shooting a -3 on the final day, leaving him tied for 19th in the final standings.
